Is it rude to stake a claim and disappear for hours? Absolutely. Not only is it rude, but it's selfish and annoying.
However, as much as I think those people were being rude, I do not know for sure that their intent was to go to the parks and come back in 6 hours with a guaranteed spot at the pool. How do you know that they werent just going to the bathroom, then some emergency came up? Isn't that possible? How would you have felt if the people came back and explained that their son had a slip and they had to take him to the hospital? I'm not suggesting that was the case, and it probably is not the case, but the point is that we don't know for sure what people's intentions are. There are also unintended consequences of your actions, that I'm sure if you thought through, you would have reconsidered. Unless there will be consequences of inaction (like imminent danger to someone, illegal activity, etc), I would not touch anyone's belongings, nor would I have reported it to the CM. If a CM noticed it and took the belongings to the lost and found, that would have been totally fine because that would be within his or her right to do that as an employee- to maintain the pool for the enjoyment of all guests. For me as a guest to do that? It's not my business, it's not my job. It's also not my civil duty to be a pool monitor, and I cannot condemn someone based on circumstantial evidence. Again, you can't be certain why they left, even if the obvious answer was to cheat. Also, to the people looking for a seat, had they asked me, I wouldve just said "These seats here have been unoccupied for hours now. I have no idea where these people went, but if you want to take it, be my guest."
Sorry- touching other people's things is an aggressive move in my book(again, except for certain situations like a mentioned above). If you were the person who left their things, you may feel sorry for what you did and understand the error of your ways, but there will be a part of you that is stirred to anger if you find out someone touched your belongings and moved them aside. In this instance, IMO, there's no way the "crime" is that dire that I make a voluntary decision to basically "trespass" other people's property.
OP- I respect your decision in what you did, but I repectfully disagree- but you can see from this thread, alot of people agree with you and not me. In any event, I honestly do believe your motives were good here.
